252 Comments

On "Nextdoor", people near me are up in arms due to the long lines to get tested.. most people getting tested do not have any symptoms, but need tests to go back to work because they were in "close contact" or some b.s. with someone that tested positive. (Whether showing symptoms or not) It's a never-ending cycle of stupidity and testing.

Expand full comment

It is beyond all common sense. I have two friends both jabbed and boosted. One has been testing every day and twice a week at CVS for Rapid and PCR. Other one wants to get tested because someone he sat next to on Friday tested positive. NO SYMPTOMS, Feels fine, BUT MUST GET TESTED. I asked him why he wanted to get tested (and he was really upset it took three days to get an appointment) and he said it is because he has workers coming to do something at his house and doesn't want to infect them. I told him GO SIT OUTSIDE OR OPEN A WINDOW. I really think people's BRAINS are BROKEN.

Expand full comment

Just read a FB thread for my kid’s college where all the parents are worried about getting tests and results on time for kids to go back to school. Ditto for the stupid boosters. A few were looking for boosters for their kids who literally just had Covid this week. Their doctors said it was ok to just get boosted once they felt better rather than wait the recommended 4 weeks. Whut? How is that sound medical advice? Would they recommend a chickenpox vax a week after they had the chickenpox?

Expand full comment
founding

Sounds like Vermont. And New Jersey. And every other state and subunit run by mini-Birx's (I'm reading Scott Atlas's book - OMG!).

Expand full comment

I’m rooting for full FUBAR and the resultant awakening / red pilling

It’s happening here in deep blue MD

Lines, closures, depleted testing

Expand full comment

People don't rebel under tolerable conditions.

In other news--the U. Penn girls' swimming team is afraid to ruin their chances for the Ivy League all-champs if they protest against teammate "Lia." They're miserable, but that brass ring is still glittering in their tear-drenched eyes.

I'd say a ruined New Year's Eve is, as El Gato says, just what PR really needs right now. Hope it works...

Expand full comment

I fell t kind of badly that I was hoping that this whole thing blows up in their face but after reading you I guess that's the only thing that has a shot at waking people up!

Expand full comment

I'm with you regarding the chaos.

We've bailed out the idiots who make these rules by adapting and overcoming. Time to abide by every rule to the letter. Slow the whole world down... let the shelves empty. Get tested numerous times and when positive get your paid time off.

Enough. Don't just comply. Comply to the letter and when the rule is confusing send a memo/email asking for clarification and wait for it before going on to the next task. Retire in place.

Expand full comment

I can’t help it but this made me giggle out loud. Witnessed this same thing last week in Austin Texas. The stores were out of tests and everyone was scrambling to get tested because their covidiot friends and families were requiring BOTH vaxxed and vaxfree guests to be tested. Cue the long lines at the drive-through testing centers giving the false impression that all these people were sick. Every gathering the conversation was about all the tests being sold out. We are living in a clown world. PS. I don’t go to parties that require tests. No tests or masks required for the party at my house! We ask for your cocktail order at the door!! Woohoo!

Expand full comment

Is it time? To become ‘ungovernable’?

Seems like it is….

Expand full comment

In Belgium the government tried to lock down, but business owners have decided otherwise. Now the government has put a step backwards and does not think it is necessary to lock down LOL

Expand full comment

Wow, now I'm EXTRA-glad I cancelled that January trip to PR (after they mandated a 10-day quarantine) :-o What a cluster ...

Expand full comment

I'm sorry, but I find this kind of funny.

Expand full comment

Instead f unvaccinated let's use the words Vaccine-Free!

Expand full comment

Chaos coming to ERs here in California too. People test positive for the rona and run to the ER. Heard of plenty folks clogging up a major hospital because they test positive and feel short of breath with elevated heart rate. = over 100bpm is normal with infections, o2 well above 95%, they just scared shitless cause MSM says everyone dies from rona. By showing up at the ER needlessly omicron and co are exhaled all over the place infecting double and triple vaxxed doctors and nurses… 🍿

Expand full comment

Want this crap to end? Go nowhere. We all (or mostly) got cable? Know how to cook? (Or open cans and defrost stuff?) Buy only groceries and urgent necessities. Stay home. Get your money's worth (not really, but still...) from your cable subscription. The country would open without restrictions in a week. It's the coastal and DC elites (I hate cliche terms but things become cliches for a reason) prolonging the agony. Undercut 'em every way you can. Businesses will howl and then this will end.

Expand full comment

Whatever happened to the #1 goal of protecting hospital capacity? How selfish do you have to be to push your way into an emergency room just to get a covid test so you can go to a party?

Expand full comment

I have never taken a covid test. Oh, I haves suffered because of it. But I have never wanted me or anyone I might have come in contact with be subject to isolation and disgrace.

If more people would have refused to test, we wouldn't be here. Just as if more people refused to fly because of the masks, masks would be gone by now.

Expand full comment

Been to Mexico a few times this year. Don't need a test for anything except to return the US (land of the not-so-free). 'Borrowed' a friend's PDF of his 'Rona test and just modified the name and date.....walla! No problems and have used the same PDF each time

Expand full comment

Gato Malo: it's absolutely insane! My BIL went to ER last night at Auxilio Mutuo. Got admitted today for diverticulitis. My sis just told me that ER is "FULL with covid". I asked her how did she know they are not flu cases, etc. She was told by the ER staff. Anyhow, she witnessed a crowded ER in one of the largest hospitals in the SJ metro area. Mind you, she's vaxxed and even got the flu shot this year for the 1st time ever. So, there is no talking her out of the Pierluisi roller-coaster. In true covidian fashion, she wore an N95 and 2 extra masks while waiting in the ER with her husband. Sigh... I just can't... And as weird as this sounds, I'm glad to be in crazy Oregon rather than lunatic PR.

Expand full comment

I agree that it is good overall that people are starting to experience some major pain and inconvenience due to the idiocy of our elected or appointed officials. I think of how much college students have to put up with the masking and the shots and the boosters. I went to college during the Vietnam war and students did not put up with anything like this. Of course the danger was they would get drafted and sent off to war. There seems to be no downside for college students these days and in addition they have been taught to drink the Kool-Aid.

Expand full comment

Sounds like Italy, too..horeca owners were all on Green Pass and Super Green Pass (for vaxxed & recovered only) to create a "safe environment" so the Saint Vaxxed cuold safely enjoy theyr holidays; enter Omi and testing frenzy (test for Xmas gatherings, test for cinemas, theatres, clubs, test for visit grandma) chaos! Endless queues for testing, 2.5 million people on quarantine (now reduced for vaxxed only, of course...) owners are pissed, vaxxed are pissed, unvaxxed are pissed forever...but they still go on and are about to go with work mandates

Expand full comment
founding

YES: honestly, i’m rooting for chaos. A thousand times, YES.

Expand full comment

thanks for the belly laugh--not at the situation, but at the absurdity of it all! i think NZ is also there, but things are so buttoned-up here you don't hear about it as much. thanks for the brilliant writing ;>)

Expand full comment

Please do not insult dog catchers. LOL! The so called HM is beneath that position. For those that can't get in to party, have a party at home, live it up, drink and dance til the sun comes up. Don't let the suckers get you down or out! This will all work out in time....it really will. Party like its 1999 in 2021!!!

Expand full comment

I would think a few island drinks 🍹 on the beach 🏖 and maybe some takeout party appetizers would be the best way to celebrate NYE in PR ! (Sorry for all the venue owners and employees though.)

Expand full comment

In my county, we are also getting urgent pleas NOT to go to the ER for a PCR test.

Just another moment when I feel like a martian. At least in PR they are doing it for a reason. Here, people just really, really want to know whether or not they have covid!?!?

Expand full comment

Why aren't PR's already incandescent? How your government has eluded the noose...

Expand full comment

I love PR. I took my kids there on vacation when they were young teens. I rented a house in Luquillo. So beautiful, the memories are so special to me. I can image the chaos in the best of times, I don’t want to in the times you are describing now…enough with the fucking testing!!!!

Expand full comment

"it’s time we demoted this absurdity of a health minister to “assistant dogcatcher 3rd rate” and got back to life."

No, please don't do that to the dogs--they deserve so much better!

I'm in Virginia and I'm also voting for chaos! As much as I want this stupid shit to be over--as I have since Mar 2020--sadly, I know that if it ends too soon too many of the dumbasses that have finally started to get angry will just go back to their lives and nothing will change. I've been taking action all over the place but me and ten friends can't do it alone.

Expand full comment

Testing rates soaring here in New England - haven't seen numbers but i have seen the sheep lined up around the block at local testing center. Not sure it was that bad even a year ago. Not one of them looked/acted sick in any way.

Expand full comment

Aw, jeez. After they did away with testing, I scheduled my first Covid-era trip to PR for mid-January. I'm vaxed, but I don't want to test and and don't want to vacation is Hysteria World. It's even hard to get a test on the mainland now due to all the hysteria. I guess we'll see what happens. I fear 3 weeks is too short to restore sanity. I suppose I can always go back to Florida.

Expand full comment

Yet another example of a problem caused not by the virus, but by the idiotic rules the 'leaders' imposed in response to the virus. A couple days ago the Blazers only had 7 guys able to play their game -- not because the players were actually sick, but because they tested positive.

But I'm old enough to remember the Jordan Flu Game.

Expand full comment

They had an interview with a big wig from the Island's Restaurant Association on Noticentro. He was not happy at all, and complained vigorously that the rules were totally illogical. He knew it was not going to change anything, but it would give a voice to restaurant owners and workers.

Expand full comment

I see your stupid and raise you one:

In Quebec, the government is going to allow vaccinated asymptomatic people with a positive SARS-COV2 test to work in hospitals, but an unvaccinated person with a negative test cannot work. Why? Shortage of workers due to firing unvaccinated workers.

Expand full comment

Also, on my neighborhood web site, people are frantically looking for home testing kits. They’ve run out all over the city, so people can’t attend their holiday festivities unless tested….. Me, I’ll stay home with a pizza and Alex’s #1 seller….

Expand full comment

The problem is, that this: "...the ER’s are struggling to provide the actual emergency care...and we’re having...an actual crisis at the hospitals" is easily spun by the left-stream media as "Covid is causing hospitals to be overrun". It doesn't matter the reason but if hospitals are packed, and especially for anything covid-related, then it's just fodder for more fear-mongering headlines.

Expand full comment

Fuck the bullshit covid testing.

Expand full comment

University of Michigan leaders state that everyone must be vaxxed and boosted and show a negative test throughout winter quarter. Now, do you know how many people worship at the altar of this university and their health system?? Gazillions. So....are we to say that every leader and medical professional there agrees with this requirement? And if they do, what's up with them? And if they don't agree but stay silent...whats up with them?

Expand full comment

The entrepreneurial answer is: Fake Vaccine Cards. Surprised someone down there hasn’t run with it.

Expand full comment

Hi I was booked into La Concha late January 2022- cancelled my booking today due to the 12-27-21 imposition of 7 day quarantine.

Expand full comment

Stupid is supposed to hurt.

Expand full comment

One word for our wonderful PR Governor... FLORIDA !!!

Expand full comment

My daughter had a 🐈‍⬛ once named Chaos. 👍

Expand full comment

What's happening with your own NYE, Gato?

Expand full comment
Dec 30, 2021·edited Dec 30, 2021

Quick Brazilian fix ("Jeitinho Brasileiro") you can borrow: diagnose covid cases as influenza and the problem disappears immediately (and nobody will question vaccine "effectiveness"). We are in a big "influenza" outbreak in the 30+ degrees Celsius summer... believe or not :D

Expand full comment

Interesting. Same sort of thing happening in Australia - not on quite that scale though. People coming into Queensland (crossing a state border!) are required to show a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours prior. Plus up until a few days ago, another one after 5 days.

However, of course the testing places are overloaded, so people line up for hours (5-8 hours, by some reports) but nobody gets their tests results in time, so they have to start over...

Plus all the usual scare about close contacts to get tested, etc.

Qld has now announced they will accept rapid antigen test results. Except that everywhere is sold out of RATs...

Maybe it will wake people up and help damp down the obsessive testing...

We will see.

Expand full comment

A local hospital is telling people not to come there to be tested.

Expand full comment

They ran similar scams here in Australia. Now they have been overwhelmed by omiburger, they reversed course and will introduce RAT for "leisure testing".

Expand full comment

It’s actually not too far off this in the uk. The government and the press encouraging us to go out on nye but to be cautious and responsible and take a test before going out. We’ve ran out of lateral flow tests and you can’t book a pcr. Different restrictions in Scotland and Wales means that folk from the border towns will come into England and party. The Scottish pm says this wouldn’t be within the spirit of the guidelines. Yeah, we know

They’re starting to spin that we need to reduce quarantine time because there’s too many people off work. This is the prime minister today

“I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted,” he said. “I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90% of people in intensive care.”

He added: “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re eight times more likely to get into hospital altogether. So it’s a great thing to do. It’s very, very important. Get boosted for yourself, and enjoy new year sensibly and cautiously.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/29/up-90-covid-patients-icu-unboosted-boris-johnson

Expand full comment